Culture Shock
by LeafsFan2003
Summary: Long awaited sequel to 'Kobol's Destiny'. When Earth's culture collides with that of the Colonies, bad things could happen.
1. Prologue

Battlestar Galactica

'Culture Shock'

Prologue

Battlestar Galactica: Kobol System

Cylon Humanoid Model Number Six sighed as the energies of transport released their grip on her. The technology was sound yet she always felt uncomfortable when she had to use it.

_Odd, _she thought to herself. _A Cylon with a human phobia._

She always wondered why she had the phobia, yet her sophisticated central processor could never come up with the appropriate answer.

_Perhaps it is God's will,_ she mused.

Looking around she noticed she had reached her destination. God's technologies certainly worked wonders. She had gone from the ruined colony of Picon to the deck of humanity's last battlestar quicker than any FTL jump could accomplish.

Pressing a button on her arm, Six signaled that she had reached her target and that she was beginning reconnaissance.

Mark Kelan, the only Earthling within hundreds of light-years, sat watching the odd game being played before him. The best he could tell was that it was similar to poker, but with different rules.

"So tell me, Kelan, what's Earth like?" Chief Galen Tyrol asked him.

"Well, I can't tell you how it is now, but when we left it was a nice place. Sure there were problems, but I'm sure they've been worked out by now."

"So why did you leave?" Specialist Cally asked him for what seemed the hundredth time.

"I'd rather not talk about that," Kelan told her, then changing the subject, "So tell me again how this is played. What does this mean?"

"Frak, you win again," Cally told him, looking at the hand. "Are you sure they don't play this on Earth?"

"Well, it's similar to poker, but our cards are rectangles. I still can't get used to all these hexagons and octagons. You even cut the corners off your printer paper. What's up with that?"

"It's just how we've always done things, I guess," Tyrol chimed in.

"Makes sense, I guess," Kelan told him. "By the way, I've been wondering. What exactly does 'frak' mean anyway? Y'all sure seem to use it a lot."

"You don't know what 'frak' means?" Cally chuckled. She and Tyrol exchanged a look and burst our laughing.

"Somehow I feel I'm the end of a bad joke here," Kelan observed.

Cally leaned over and whispered in his ear. In the span of a few seconds, Kelan's look went from one of confusion to one of amusement.

"I see," he said when she was finished. Laughing to himself he told them, "Well, guess it makes sense. Everyone has their own word for it."

"Well, we wouldn't exactly say it around the President, but it's a fairly common word," Tyrol told him. "What do you say on Earth?"

"We say a lot of things," Kelan told him. "Not sure the exact number, though."

Behind them, someone cleared their throat. Turning, Kelan was greeted by the face of Dr. Gaius Baltar, acting President of the Colonies.

"Excuse me, Mr. Kelan, sorry to interrupt your little game here, but, well, I was about to leave for a Quorum meeting on the Cloud Nine and was wondering if you'd like to accompany me?"

"A meeting on the what?" Kelan asked, confused.

"Oh, forgive me. It's hard to remember you're not one of us," Baltar told him with some scorn in his voice. "It's a government meeting on our recreation ship."

"Well, that makes sense, but why do I need to be there?"

"Well, seeing as you represent the Thirteenth Colony of Kobol…" Baltar began.

"Look, I don't know what you've been smoking, Doctor, but Earth is no colony."

This drew looks from everyone around him.

"What did I say?" he asked them.

"You don't know of Kobol?" Cally asked him.

"Never heard of it until I got here," he told her. "And this nonsense of Earth being a colony of it is new to me as well."

"But doesn't your holy book begin with the words 'Life here, began out there'?" Tyrol asked him.

"No, it begins with 'In the beginning, God created the Heavens and the Earth'. Why?"

Behind him, Baltar nearly exploded.

"Look, I don't have time for a theology lesson. I've got a frakking meeting with the frakking Quorum of Twelve in fifteen frakking minutes and I just want to know if you want to attend?"

"Easy, man, I never said no," Kelan told him. After thinking a moment, he said, "Ok, I'll attend this government meeting of yours, but on one condition. And that's no one knows I'm from Earth. As far as I've been able to tell, no one other than a few people on this ship knows I'm from Earth. And I'd like to keep it that way."

"And why's that?" Gaius asked him.

"Because I don't know how to get us back to Earth," he told him.


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

_A/N: I neither now nor have I ever owned BSG or its related characters. And, thanks for all the good reviews. Hope you like the next chapter._

It was quite a shock, or so she thought. Yet she sat staring across the room at someone, or rather some_thing_ that resembled her in every way, down to her name.

"Why?" she asked, after staring at her for what seemed like hours.

"Why what?" her opposite number asked.

"My name is Sharon Valerii. I was born on Troy," she freaked out.

"No, you're not Sharon. Neither am I. It was a name given to us by our creator, God," Sharon #2 told her.

"No, I don't believe it. It's just not possible. I remember so much. I remember my life, my family…"

"Those memories are real. God had to create them somehow. The twelve models were first created as children. They were seeded amongst the colonies and allowed to mature to adulthood. Once that happened, programming deep within them delivered those memories to God and he was able to create us. So yes, you remember your life and your family. Just as I do. And all of our numerous clones."

"But why?" Sharon #1 asked again.

"It is God's plan," was the answer.

The cell door opening caught their attention. Four armed Marines entered the cell, their guns leveled on both Sharons.

"You, the thing with the gunshot wound. Colonel wants to see you," the sergeant ordered.

"My name is Sharon…" she began.

"I don't give a frak what your name is," the sergeant snapped. "You shot the Old Man and now you're gonna pay, you Cylon bitch."

"I'm not a Cylon…" she insisted.

This only caused the Marine to get angrier and he took out his anger by slamming the butt of his rifle into Sharon #1's head, knocking her unconscious.

"Did you even feel that?" he asked the other Sharon.

"We don't feel the emotions or pain of our clones," she told him.

The Marine, not quite satisfied with the response, slammed the butt of his rifle into Sharon #2's head as well, knocking her unconscious.

"Get this thing to the Colonel. And make sure it's awake when it gets there," the sergeant ordered.

"Yes, sir," two others said and picked up the prone form of Sharon #1.

In another brig, Lieutenant Kara "Starbuck" Thrace was doing pushups. She'd been at it for three days, stopping only to sleep and eat.

She couldn't believe her situation. She'd gone off on a mission, though unauthorized, that had given some hope to the Fleet, or at least she thought it had. And still she'd been thrown in the brig as soon as she landed.

_Frakking Colonel,_ she thought to herself.

She still wondered why Commander Adama hadn't had her released already. She hadn't even been given the honor of one of his famous stare downs. That, she'd considered odd. She couldn't even get anything out of the guards assigned to watch her, "threat" to the Fleet that she was.

As she was finishing her latest set of pushups, Captain Lee "Apollo" Adama walked through the door. She hadn't seen him for three days, either, and was rather upset that he hadn't even done anything to get her out of this latest mess.

"Captain," she said, loading his rank with scorn.

"Lieutenant," he responded, a slight smirk on his face.

"Dammit, Lee, what the frak's going on," she practically exploded. "I've been down here for three days now and you're the first frakking soul I've seen."

"We've been trying to get organized," he admitted. "A lot happened while you were off exploring the ruins of Caprica."

"Well, why don't you tell me, then?"

"Well," Lee began taking a seat, "there's a guy from Earth aboard now."

"What?" she practically leapt at the bars. "How?"

"We don't know 'how' or even 'why'. According to our people on Kobol he just appeared out of nowhere," Lee explained.

"So we can get to Earth now?"

"Well, not yet. He hasn't been able to tell us the location. He says he was in some sort of stasis for two hundred years."

"Great," she said, throwing her hands up in the air. "So what does Commander Adama have to say about this?"

"Well…" Lee began and trailed off.

"Well what? What's wrong, Lee?"

"Adama was shot," he came out and told her.

Kara collapsed on the cot in her cell.

"How?" she managed.

"Boom…Sharon did it," he told her.

"That frakking bitch!" Kara exploded. Then she laughed at herself, "Of course she'd be the one to do it. Frakking Cylons."

"They're preparing to interrogate her now. Our Sharon anyway. At least the one that we've known."

"Oh, if I ever get out of here I'll rip her frakking eyes out," Kara seethed.

"You and everyone else onboard. Colonel Tigh's gonna interrogate her personally," Lee told her.

"Lee, you've got to get me out of here. You've got to convince Tigh to let me interrogate her. I've dealt with these things. I can deal with her."

"I'm not sure if he'll go for that, Kara," Lee told her. "You frakked up pretty good by going off like you did."

"Well you tell me, then, what I should do?"

"I'll see what I can do," he told her. "But I can't promise anything. I'm not exactly in Tigh's good graces at the moment."

"Just do what you can. I want to see that bitch squirm."

"Alright," Lee said and left.

"She wants to do what?" Tigh growled later.

"She wants to interrogate Sha… that thing that shot my father," Lee told him.

"Not a chance," Tigh said, shaking his head. "She brought another one of those things back from Caprica. How do we know she's not one of them herself?"

"Colonel, she was pretty upset when I told her Adama had been shot," Lee protested.

"Yeah, and that could have been a programmed response," Tigh pointed out. "She was probably the first choice to shoot the Old Man and when she went gallivanting off to Caprica, the job fell to Sharon."

"Colonel…" Lee began.

"The matter is settled, Captain, unless you want to join Lt. Thrace in the brig."

"Colonel, the matter is _not_ settled," Lee told him, staring Tigh in the eye. "She's the best we have when it comes to interrogating Cylons and if anyone should be interrogating that thing in the brig, then it should be her. Look, I'll personally vouch for her if that's what you want. If she fraks up then you can throw me in the brig right beside her and throw away the key."

Tigh considered this for a moment. He wasn't too happy with the decision he came to.

"Alright," he relented. "But if she fraks up then you'll spend so much of the rest of your life in the brig that no one will even remember you. Understood?"

"Yes, sir," Lee saluted and left.

Colonial One

"A man from Earth?" Laura Roslin asked.

"Yes, Madam President," Billy Keikeya, her press secretary, told her. "The reports are saying Vice President Baltar is going to present him to the Quorum within the hour."

"Really?" Roslin asked a slight smile on her face. "That should be interesting."

"That it should," Billy said.

Roslin sighed. She really wanted to meet this man from Earth. It was mostly to see if he was the same as her visions (though Doctor Cottle would call them hallucinations). She was so isolated. It had only been a week since she'd been remanded to her ship, cut off from all but her senior staff. That much she had insisted on and, thankfully, Colonel Tigh had agreed.

"Billy, I would like you to relay a message to Vice President Baltar, unofficially of course."

"Yes, Madam President. Unofficially," he repeated the word nervously.

"Billy, it's alright. You're not doing anything wrong. We have to maintain some semblance of order. Vice President Baltar is only acting President. He knows that eventually this will all be cleared up."

"I understand," Billy assured her.

"Alright. Now this is what I'd like you to tell the Vice President," she said and began writing down her message.

Number Six made her way stealthily through the corridors of the Galactica, eagerly seeking her target. In the days after the "shutdown" her link to the chip within Baltar's head had been all but severed.

_Perhaps he found it,_ she thought to herself.

Shrugging the thought aside she listened to the various conversations taking place around her, trying to figure out what was going on. From the voices of the humans, something bad had happened in during the time she was absent. However, the humans weren't very forthcoming with their information.

She noticed the one known as Cally talking excitedly to another crewmember. She had always found this human to be so enjoyable. Despite all the trials she had been through since the Colonies had been attacked she remained so positive, so aloof.

Something in the conversation made her listen closer.

"And he's going to present him to the Quorum," she was saying. "Oh Gods, I wish they'd broadcast it on the wireless. There's just something about him that's so, I don't know, different. He's not like most men. No offense of course."

"Ah, c'mon, Cally, all you've been talking about is this guy from Earth. Until he shows us the way, he's not much use to me."

_A man from Earth? But how can this be true?_ Six though to herself. _God said the humans must find Earth, but He never said someone from Earth would find them._

Something deep within her mind was tugging at her thoughts suddenly. Something she had never felt before. Not fear, nor anger.

It was hope.

Later, on the Cloud Nine luxury liner, Baltar sat staring at Roslin's "unofficial" message to him.

"She can't be serious," he said, looking up at Billy. "She wants to meet with him? And how does she expect to do that?"

"She says that if anyone would know how, then you're the one," Billy told him.

"She can't be serious," he said again.

"Serious about what?" Mark Kelan asked as he stepped out from behind a door. "God, I can't believe you're making me wear this."

"Oh, nothing," Baltar told him. "And you have to wear the suit because it's required. I'm sure Earth's government doesn't allow you to show up in what you've been wearing."

"Point taken," Kelan said. "And about Earth, there is no…"

"Acting President, Mr. Kelan, they're ready for you," an aide said before Kelan could finish.

"Well, if you'll excuse me, Billy, but we have more important matters to think about. Tell the President that I'll see about her, um, request as soon as we're through here."

"Understood," Billy told him.

"Now, Mr. Kelan," Baltar said, turning to face him, "time to present you to the Quorum."

"I can hardly contain my excitement," Kelan deadpanned.

"You're the chipper one," Baltar noted.

"Look, I hate speeches and presentations. I had to give too many of them to my president back on Earth. Always having to explain to the idiot about what we were doing and how we were going to go about doing it. Always in one ear and out the other."

"Well, there's time for that later," Baltar interrupted. "The sooner we get this over with, the better."

Shaking his head, Kelan entered the Quorum hall. As Baltar followed he thought he saw a movement out of the corner of his eye, but as he turned, no one was there.

_Odd,_ he thought.

Tom Zarek, representative of the Sagitarrons, did not want to be at this meeting. And yet he'd been forced out of a meeting with his constituents over some nonsense about a man from Earth. Not being a religious man, and therefore not believing in the nonsense of a planet called Earth, Zarek had tried to dismiss the aid sent to summon him, but when he was told the Acting President of the Colonies had ordered it, he'd had little choice but to attend. However, he did intend to voice his concerns over what he saw as the illegal imprisonment of the true, though un-elected, President of the Colonies and the appointment of a man who had ties to the military.

As he sat watching the "acting" President give a long winded speech, as was his nature, much to Zarek's chagrin, he noticed the new man standing next to him. Obviously this was Baltar's Earthman. He certainly didn't act like someone born and raised under the Colonial flag. He didn't even appear to have served the military service required of all Colonial citizens, the one thing Zarek opposed more than the consolidation of power into one government for all the Colonies.

It was obvious, though, that this man was bored out of his skull, which was an understatement considering Zarek was just as bored. It did appear, though, that Baltar was nearing the end of his speech.

"And now, Representatives of the Colonies, I'd like to present to you Mr. Mark Kelan of the planet Earth," Baltar finally said.

"Thank you, Mr. President," Kelan said as he took the podium. "I'm, um, not much for speeches as you're esteemed President here so this will most likely be short and I will take some questions if no one has any objections."

"I have an objection," Zarek said, rising from his seat. "If it would please the 'Acting' President, instead of presenting us the fantasies of madmen we should be more concerned with the illegal imprisonment of the true President of the Colonies. We have sat idle for over a week now and nothing has been done to address this situation."

"Excuse me," Kelan said. "You're saying I'm nothing but a fantasy?"

"Not you, Mr. Kelan," Zarek told him, "But the planet Earth."

"Well, I can assure you that Earth is no fantasy, um, Mr. Zarek. I should know I used to live there."

"So you say," Zarek retorted.

"So I know," Kelan said a slight edge to his voice. "You know, on Earth no one ever believed that life existed beyond our planet. Many people refused to believe in extra-terrestrial life. I, fortunately, wasn't one of those people. However, I am finding it hard to believe that another race of humans exists beyond the planet Earth."

"I don't understand," the representative of Gemenon said as she rose. "You do not know of the planet Kobol, the birthplace of humanity? You've never heard of the Twelve Colonies of Kobol?"

"Most of this has been explained to me since I got here, but I still can't believe any of it. To say that everyone and everything on my planet originated on another world is complete nonsense."

This drew gasps from many of those in attendance.

"There is evidence on my planet suggesting that humans arose from native primate species. I, of course, believe in this theory, but I also believe that God created the Earth and all humans."

"You speak of a 'god'," Zarek said. "You do not speak of the Gods."

"There was a time when people believed in more than one god. This belief has long since been supplanted by the belief in only one God," Kelan told him.

"How could this have happened?" the representative of Gemenon asked. "Did your people not sing the songs of the Gods? Did your people not act out the great plays written in their honor?"

"No, people stopped believing in more than one God about two thousand years ago. The only record we have of them are the Greek myths."

A murmur rose amongst the crowd.

"Mr. Kelan, you do realize the Greeks were the fabled Thirteenth Tribe of Kobol?" the Gemenon representative asked. "They preferred the name 'Hellasians' but the common name was Greeks."

"What?" Kelan asked, utterly shocked. "The Greek civilization is over three thousand years old. There's no way they came from another planet. You're wrong. This, this meeting is over."

As he stormed out, everyone looked at each other in what could only be described as a cross between shock and confusion.

"You know he's right, Gaius," a very familiar voice whispered in Baltar's ear, causing his face to go white.


	3. Chapter 2

_A/N: Thanks for the great reviews. For those wondering about the origins of Mr. Kelan and how he came to call Galactica home, check out the first story, "Kobol's Destiny"._

Chapter 2

Kara Thrace was thoroughly enjoying herself at the moment and she had yet to do anything. Having already been denied a chance to kill the Cylon Sharon on Caprica – damn Helo for getting it pregnant – she now had the ultimate excuse to effectively torture one of them.

"So tell me," she said finally, "why did you shoot Commander Adama?"

"How many times do I have to tell everyone, I don't know why I shot him," was the response.

"You're lying; you know that, don't you?" Kara told her. "You've been lying all along. You lied to me, you lied to Lee, you lied to Colonel Tigh and you even lied to the Commander. Now I'm asking you again, why did you shoot Commander Adama?"

"I told you Kara, I…"

"Don't call me 'Kara', you hear me!" Kara screamed as she slapped Sharon across the face. "You can call me 'sir' and nothing more. You hear me? Huh?"

"Yes, sir," Sharon said meekly.

"Now, one last time, why did you shoot Commander Adama?"

"I don't know. I went to shake his hand and the gun was there. It just happened. And that's the honest truth."

Shaking her head, Kara motioned to the two guards. Taking Sharon by the arms, they lifted her out of her chair and placed her manacled hands on a hook suspended from the ceiling. Reaching under the table, Kara produced a whip.

"You know, I really don't want to do this, Sharon," Kara said, using her name for the first time, "But you really leave me no choice. Now if you'll just tell me why you shot Commander Adama, then I won't have to hurt you."

"I saw myself," Sharon croaked. "On the basestar. There were dozens of clones. They all looked like me."

"Go on," Kara said, putting the whip down for the moment.

"They must have done something. They must have sent a signal and activated something in me. I've suspected for some time now that I was a Cylon, but I didn't want to believe it. I just wanted to end my frakking life and not have to worry anymore.

She began crying.

"I didn't want to shoot the Commander. I love the Commander. I love all of you. You've all been my friends for years and I tried to kill myself to spare you the pain of knowing what I truly am. But I couldn't do it. I couldn't pull the frakking trigger and now the Commander is hurt and everyone hates me. Oh, Gods, Kara, just shoot me now. Don't torture me. I can't tell you what I don't know. I just want to pay the price for what I did. Just do it! Shoot me!"

"No," Kara managed. "I won't give the Cylons that gift. Here I was so frakking angry at you, but I can't kill you. But I'm sure the Colonel can."

"What?" Sharon asked, shocked.

Kara went to the door and opened it, revealing Colonel Tigh. She shook her head and handed him the gun she'd been issued for the interrogation. Tigh nodded and motioned for her to leave.

"Under article seven, section four of the Articles of Colonization I do hereby convict you of attempted murder of a flag officer during wartime. The sentence is death to be carried out immediately," he intoned.

He pointed the gun to her head.

"Thank the Gods it's over," Sharon said as Tigh pulled the trigger.

In her cell, the other Sharon seized in pain as she was flooded with the conscience of her other self.

"Oh my God," she whispered.

Mark Kelan was angry as he stalked through the corridors of the Galactica. Several crewmembers gave him concerned looks, but he paid them no attention. He'd already been lied to by several people today. He'd already had Baltar renege on his promise not to tell anyone he was from Earth. And then all this nonsense about the Greeks being from another planet. It was enough to make a man scream.

Bursting into the crew workout room he finally saw his target: a punching bag. At the other punching bag, Cally was practicing kicking.

"You know, you might want to leave," he told her. "I'm so ticked off right now I could scream and I really wouldn't want to cause you to go deaf."

"Hey, I work around loud Vipers all day," she told him. "I'm sure I can withstand a few screams."

"If you say so," he said and laid into the bag like a madman laying into a helpless victim.

"That. Stupid. Son. Of. A. Bitch lied to me!" he yelled as he punched the bag. "I told him not to tell them I was from Earth and what does he do, he tells them I'm from Earth!"

"Who?" Cally asked.

"Your President or whatever he's called."

"Doctor Baltar?"

"Yes, him! You were there. I told him not to tell anyone else I was from Earth. Didn't I?"

"Yeah, I remember that," Cally said. "Maybe the Quorum heard it from rumors. They do tend to spread fast amongst the Fleet."

"Even so," Kelan said, continuing to punch the bag. "This Quorum of yours, they started with these lies about Earth being a colony and how the Greeks are from Kobol."

"The Hellasians?" Cally asked.

"You've heard these lies too?" he asked incredulously. "Madness. Utter madness."

He screamed and ripped of his shirt.

"Do I look Greek to you?" he asked.

"I don't know what a Hella… I mean a Greek looks like," she told him, trying not to stare.

"Well, I'm not one of them. I look more like you," he said. "Well, you know what I mean. What colony are you from anyway?"

"I'm from Caprica. The majority of the crew is from Caprica."

"I see," he said, calming down. "A great puzzle has been set before me. I've got to figure this out before I go mad. I hate riddles that have no immediate answer."

"Really," Cally said, clearly distracted now.

Looking down, Kelan realized he'd inadvertently ripped his shirt off.

"Oh," he said. "Sometimes I do that and don't realize it. I should have taken those anger management classes long ago. I'm so sorry."

"It's ok," Cally said. "Not like I've never seen a shirtless man before."

"Well, um, I think I'll go put on a new shirt now," he said, moving for the door. "Um, I guess I'll, um, see you, um, later, I guess."

"Sure," Cally said as he retreated from the room.

"Oh, God, what was I thinking?" Kelan said to himself as he walked down the corridor. "At least she didn't slap me."

Not watching where he was going, he soon realized he was lost. Looking up, he was greeted by Doctor Cottle.

"Can I help you?" he asked. "You're the guy from Earth aren't you?"

"Yeah, I guess that secret's out now. Um, well, my hand hurts," he told him, holding up his slowly swelling hand.

"Gods, one on every ship," Cottle murmured. "Just sit down over there and I'll look at it."

"Oh, Captain Adama," Kelan said as he took a seat on the bed next to him. "What brings you down here?"

"My father," Lee told him.

"Oh, what happened?" Kelan asked.

"He was shot by a Cylon. He's alive, just comatose."

"And to think no one told me. God, I hate being out of the loop. I wish someone would tell me what's going on around here. It's been what, a week now?"

"Seven days," Lee told him.

"Yeah, a week. Oh, wait, you're week is different from my week."

"That would be nine days. If you'd like, I could have someone fill you in on everything about us."

"I'd appreciate that, Captain Adama," Kelan told him.

"Please, call me Lee."

"Alright," Kelan said, offering his hand. Lee shook it.

"Ow, that really does hurt," Kelan winced. "Guess I punched the bag too hard."

"Keep your shirt on, I'm coming," Cottle complained. "Frakking civvies. Always complaining about every little bump and bruise."

"I like this guy," Kelan whispered to Lee. "He reminds me of a guy I once knew on Earth. Always had a good line for any situation."

"Yeah, and I bet he had good hearing too," Cottle said. "Now let me see your hand."

Cloud Nine Luxury Liner

"This isn't frakking possible," Baltar said. "I saw you die."

"How many times do I have to tell you Gaius that I can't die. My conscience is always transferred to another body," Six told him. "And I always remember how I died."

"But Cally saw you."

"She's nothing but a child. Who'll believe her?"

Baltar tried to ignore her. He'd gone an entire week without having her constantly yammering in his ear and was grateful for the silence.

"Gaius, you're not listening to me," Six said, her voice turning deadly cold.

"I know your secret now," Baltar told her. "You're here, but I don't have to listen to you."

"Really?" she said.

She reached out and grabbed him by the throat.

"I'll scream," he protested. "My guards will be in here in no time at all."

"Only to find you alone, Gaius. To think you've lost your mind."

"No, there has to be an explanation."

She released her grip from him.

"I'm not here to kill you, Gaius," she said, calming down somewhat. "Do you understand the concept of 'revenge'?"

"Revenge? What are you talking about?"

She turned and smiled at him. Not the old smile he had grown accustomed to, but a smile of utter madness.

"Revenge against your little trollop Kara. She killed me twice, Gaius. She took you away from me. She _hurt me, _Gaius!"

"I…I…I'm sorry," Baltar stammered.

"That's not enough, Gaius. I want to see her bleed. I want to see her suffer. I want to see her die."

"My God, you've lost your mind."

"Have I, Gaius? Or maybe my undying love for you has elicited emotions completely unknown to Cylons."

"You're a machine for God's sake," Gaius pleaded. "You can't possibly understand such a complex emotion as revenge."

She slapped him, hard.

"Don't patronize me, Gaius. I will have my revenge. And I will take the remnant of humanity with me. Enjoy your time while you can, Gaius. When I'm through you'll be nothing but a memory."

With that, she vanished, leaving Baltar in a state of shock.


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Cally hummed to herself as she worked at replacing the port stabilizer valve on one of the Galactica's Vipers. She hadn't been able to get the image of Mark Kelan's shirtless self out of her mind and found it was actually helping her concentrate. She felt oddly at ease.

"Cally, you alright?" Tyrol asked. "I haven't seen you work like this since before the attack."

"Oh, it's nothing, Chief," she told him. "Just…perky I guess."

"Right. Well, whatever it is, I hope it doesn't wear off."

Cally fought hard to suppress the giggle that welled up within her. She didn't succeed.

"Something funny?"

"Nothing, really," she said.

Shaking his head, Tyrol moved on to the other Vipers in various states of repair. Thankfully the Cylons had held back for nearly a week and they were able to catch up with much needed repairs.

So engrossed was Tyrol in his repairs that he didn't notice Lee Adama walking up.

"Chief?"

"Yes, sir?" Tyrol said, saluting his superior officer.

"How are things?" Lee asked.

"As well as they can be during this calm. Not taking it lightly, though. Thank the Gods the Cylons haven't decided to hit us. I've got half a dozen birds down for major repairs, and I just don't have the parts to fix all of them."

"We're working on that," Lee assured him. "Look, I need to ask you a favor."

"Anything," Tyrol responded. "Just don't expect any miracles."

"No, no miracles," Lee told him, chuckling. "I, um, I need someone to be a guide for the guy from Earth."

"A guide? For what?" Tyrol asked, looking up.

"Well, it's becoming apparent that some things are different between the Colonies and Earth," Lee explained. "For some odd reason their week is two days shorter than ours."

"Now that is strange. What else."

"Well, I've been hearing some rumors. He went before the Quorum and was rather upset when he found out Earth is a Colony."

During all of this, Cally, as was her nature, had begun to listen in on the conversation.

"The mythical name of the Thirteenth Tribe…"

"The Hellasians," Tyrol supplied the name, being the son of a noted Caprican priest.

"Yeah, the Hellasians. It turns out they actually exist. He knows them by their common name…"

"The Greeks," Tyrol supplied that name as well.

"Exactly. Anyway, he told me he hates being out of the loop and really I can't blame him. Especially if I were out of the loop for two centuries."

"I see. So why can't you get someone else to fill him in on everything?"

"No one else is available," Lee said, shaking his head. "At least not on Galactica. I could check the Fleet, but…"

"I'll do it," Cally chimed in.

"Cally?" Tyrol asked.

"Chief, I was top of my class in Colonial History," Cally told them proudly. "If anyone can teach him basic history, I'm your girl."

"You do realize that you'll still be required to work on the hangar deck."

"I'll do it on my off time," she told him. "He seems intelligent enough to learn everything quickly."

"Alright," Tyrol said, realizing an argument was out of the question.

Beside him, Lee smiled a knowing smile.

"Just try not to let him get in the way of your duties, alright?" Tyrol said, realizing her eagerness to help the Earth man.

But Cally just smiled and laughed.

The computer chimed for attention. Looking up from a book he had been reading, Mark Kelan noted the message:

"Drive reconstruction complete," the screen read in large, pulsing type.

"Finally," he muttered.

Setting the book down, he typed in a few keystrokes, causing the computer to reboot. As the computer came back online, the operating system loaded up, much to his relief.

"After two hundred years, you still work," he said to himself. "No telling what they use on Earth now, but you're the best there is in God knows how many lightyears."

It had been a struggle to get power to the computer, just another example of the differences between Earth and the Colonies. Apparently the Colonies hard wired everything into the wall and that was an understatement. It seemed the electrical outlet was an invention only common to the planet Earth.

And the Colonies appeared to use more than the 110 volts of electricity he was used to running his appliances. From what he'd been able to gather, they used 330, which just didn't make sense since it didn't double as things did on Earth.

The problems, fortunately, had had an easy workaround. Thankfully, even in the frantic attempt to escape Earth, someone had thought to process a power inverter into the system. Fortunately that power inverter had resided on his hard drive.

"Now, to find out what happened to you guys," he said as he brought up a program he'd designed to monitor the systems during their interstellar transit.

As the program began scanning files buried deep on the individual hard drives that had once held the data streams of his friends, a knock came at his door. Leaving the program to do what it needed to do, he answered it.

"Oh, hi," he said as he was greeted by Cally. "What brings you here?"

"Captain Adama," she told him.

"Oh, right," Kelan said, remembering his earlier conversation. "So you're going to tell me about everything Colonial?"

"That's the idea," she told him, smiling. "Just, you know, don't lose your shirt over it."

Laughing, Kelan sat back down at his computer.

"I doubt that'll, um, happen anytime soon," he assured her.

"So, what exactly are you doing here?" she asked, indicating the computer.

"I finally got it back up," he explained. "Trying to find out what happened to the others. Damn these power systems, though."

"Colonial standards," Cally shrugged. "Anyway, I guess we should get started."

"Sounds good to me. No telling how long this'll take."

At that the program stopped and a photo came up. Cally suddenly stopped smiling.

"My Gods," she whispered.

Turning to look at the screen, he saw the picture of one of his friends.

"That's my friend Jennifer," he told her.

"That's Boomer," she told him, completely in shock.

Looking at the photo and Cally's shocked look, Kelan suddenly realized he had been presented with another, more complex puzzle.


End file.
